Los Angeles and Ontario are fighting over how much LA put into Ontario International Airport for improvements; a forensic accountant concludes it was $4.5 million.

Published: Jan. 30, 2015 – Updated: 10:05 p.m.

Contributions from Los Angeles World Airports for improvements at Ontario International Airport have been “significantly overstated” and may be as little as $4.5 million, a forensic accountant has testified in a deposition.

To read story by Richard K. De Atley in The Press-Enterprise, click here.

SAN BERNARDINO >> Fearing he may die in custody before trial, Charles “Chase” Merritt, suspected of killing the McStay family in their Fallbrook home in 2010, was given permission Friday by a judge to represent himself.

In 1978, Californians passed Proposition 13 to cap property tax increases at two percent per year. At the time, and as we saw last decade, property values were increasing at such a fast pace, that many people had difficulty keeping up with the doubling and tripling of their property taxes. Seniors on fixed incomes were sometimes forced to sell their homes because the taxation levels exceeded their ability to pay the taxes.

Michael Peevey, when he was at the helm of the California Public Utilities Commission Michael Peevey, when he was at the helm of the California Public Utilities Commission (AP)

Warrant indicates notes involving San Onofre may have been among items seized

State agents seized bank statements, computers. miscellaneous files and a host of other materials from the Los Angeles area home of former California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey this week, indicating a public-corruption case is growing more serious.

Andrew Do was elected to the 1st District Board of Supervisors seat by 43 votes after the vote-counting wrapped up Friday, leaving Lou Correa, one of Orange County’s longest-standing politicians, jobless for the moment.

SAN BERNARDINO >> After protests, NAACP’s call for a federal investigation and stern defense of law enforcement, the family of Dante Parker filed a lawsuit Wednesday alleging 10 civil rights violations from the Victorville man’s death in deputies’ custody.

SAN FRANCISCO – Even as it was reported that state investigators seized computers and other items from Michael Peevey’s home, Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday offered only praise for the former president of the California Public Utilities Commission.

He also took aim at Republican arguments that a lapse in DHS funding would not be ‘the end of the world.’

By Lauren French 1/29/15 8:50 PM EST

PHILADELPHIA — President Barack Obama vowed to House Democrats on Thursday night that he would “happily” veto any legislation that would “compound” the country’s immigration problems — posing yet another challenge to Republican efforts to pass a Homeland Security spending bill by next month’s deadline.

Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Cliff Cummings, President of Toyota of San Bernardino, joins Lou to discuss happenings in the City of San Bernardino, National School Choice Week and the overall health of the Inland Empire economy.

The union representing Riverside County sheriff’s deputies has asked a judge to prevent the county from requiring deputies to use body-mounted video cameras, asserting that officials failed to negotiate the use of the new equipment.

During a news conference in November, District Attorney Michael A. Ramos said about 60 warrants had been served. But that number has since changed to 35, and prosecutors are not saying why.

By Joe Nelson, The Sun Posted: 01/28/15, 8:44 PM PST |

Authorities have no legal basis to block public access to dozens of search warrants filed in San Bernardino Superior Court in the McStay family murder case, according to a motion filed Wednesday by an attorney representing 18 news organizations.

Sarah Palin’s odd, rambling speech last weekend before an audience of committed conservative activists in Des Moines has many influential voices on the right saying that the time has come to acknowledge that the romance has gone cold and the marriage is dead.

The billionaire Koch brothers’ intention to spend nearly $900 million on conservative candidates and causes in the 2016 election cycle will unleash a tidal wave of cash that will swamp the political landscape even in solidly blue California, experts said Tuesday.

The regulator for bailed-out housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac told lawmakers Tuesday that new programs to back mortgages with down payments as low as 3% had enough safeguards to make them as safe as loans with higher down payments.

Although California’s industrial sector has been declining for decades and today employs just 8 percent of the state’s workers, it still generates a very large portion of the state’s economic output, a new Census Bureau report indicates.

Jeb Bush may be the front-runner in the GOP 2016 primary. He is the son and brother of former presidents, who can tap into their vaunted fund-raising machines. In some eyes, the former Florida governor always was the more disciplined, thoughtful and worthy son. Maybe. But Jeb Bush also has a problem: He is a boring speaker.

This week may be remembered as the birth of the Koch Party. A usurper of the GOP and a rival to Democrats, the network of conservative advocacy groups backed by Charles and David Koch pledged Monday to spend $889 million on the 2016 election.

Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Dr. Adrian Moore, Vice President of The Reason Foundation, joins Lou. The two will discuss the sale of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, the desertion of Bowe Berghdal and rezoning in Lake Elsinore.

A depot used to store pipes for Transcanada Corp’s planned Keystone XL oil pipeline is seen in Gascoyne, North Dakota in this November 14, 2014 file photo. (REUTERS/Andrew Cullen/Files)

By Sean Sullivan January 26, 2016 at 6:18 PM

**This post has been updated**

Senate Democrats stalled the Republican-led push to construct the Keystone XL Pipeline on Monday, dealing the first significant blow to the new Republican majority less than three weeks after being sworn in.

Charles Koch and David Koch are backing a network of advocacy groups that plans to spend nearly $1 billion on the 2016 presidential election.

By Matea Gold January 26, 2015 at 4:00 PM

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — A network of conservative advocacy groups backed by Charles and David Koch aims to spend a staggering $889 million in advance of the next White House election, part of an expansive strategy to build on its 2014 victories that may involve jumping into the Republican primaries.

The financial crisis has passed and the economy is rebounding, but the fight over taxes is about to resume between Governor Jerry Brown and members of the California legislature. (Max Whittaker/Getty Images)

Juliet Williams | AP January 25, 09:16 AM

Gov. Jerry Brown orchestrated the successful push for temporary sales and income taxes on Californians three years ago to help ease the state out of recession and close a multibillion-dollar budget gap.

A recent column about a growing backlog of deferred maintenance in the state highway system and the difficulty of raising more revenue for roadwork generated an unusually high number of reader reactions.

The Inland Empire saw a dramatic drop in unemployment last month. Its jobless rate for December was 7.2 percent, down from a revised 8 percent the previous month and 8.7 percent a year earlier, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA >> The head of one of Southern California’s largest development companies predicted local economic growth in the coming year in a keynote speech in front of hundreds of real estate brokers at the Goldy S. Lewis Community Center in Rancho Cucamonga on Friday.

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif.— Conservative benefactor Charles Koch on Saturday called on other wealthy donors to expand their commitment to promoting free-market ideas and shrinking government, saying they would only succeed if the cause was “a central part of our lives.”

Five years after Citizens United ruling, big money reigns

Michael Hiltzik January 24, 2015

If you’re wondering why issues favored by a majority of Americans such as raising the minimum wage, gun control and net neutrality get scarcely any attention in the halls of Congress, the Citizens United case is the reason.

Former Republican state Sen. Sharon Runner of Lancaster, who rebounded after receiving a double lung transplant three years ago, was the only candidate to file papers by Friday’s deadline to run in a special election to fill a Senate seat vacated when Steve Knight was elected to Congress.

Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Lou is joined by Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez (R-Lake Elsinore) to discuss AB 150, which would amend Prop 47 to make the theft of a firearm under $950 a felony.

Riverside has shown itself to be exceptional in its 132-year history, and today’s residents should use their vision and passion to contribute to its future, Mayor William “Rusty” Bailey said Tuesday in his annual State of the City speech.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, shown in Sacramento in 2013, is weighing a bid for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Barbara Boxer. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

By Michael Finnegan January 22, 2015

With billionaire Tom Steyer opting out of California’s U.S. Senate race on Thursday, the most likely major rival for Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris appears to be former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Steyer

By Christopher Cadelago ccadelago@sacbee.com 01/22/2015 1:10 PM

Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer said Thursday he will not be a candidate to succeed U.S. Senate Barbara Boxer and instead will continue his focus on helping Democrats and working to reverse the effects of global climate change.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa(Ethan Miller)

Kamala Harris is getting national buzz, but there’s a counter-movement building on behalf of a potential rival.

By Andrea Drusch January 21, 2015

With only weeks gone but years left in California’s Senate race, national Democrats appear eager to anoint state Attorney General Kamala Harris as the 2016 successor to Sen. Barbara Boxer’s seat. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee weighed in lauding Harris’ candidacy after she announced her decision last week, and high-profile sitting senators including Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Cory Booker also feted the new front-runner.

The rush by Democrats in Washington to back California’s Kamala Harris for Senate raises hackles.

By Alex Isenstadt 1/21/15 – 8:03 PM EST

The procession of prominent Washington Democrats who lined up last week to sing the praises of California Attorney General Kamala Harris for Senate had the feel of an anointment. Sen. Cory Booker said he was “so excited” about her candidacy. Sen. Elizabeth Warren called Harris, a favorite of the Obama White House, “smart” and “tough.” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told supporters she needed Harris “by my side.”

Gov. Jerry Brown, right, gestures while speaking out against tuition increases as Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, listens during a November meeting of the University of California Board of Regents in San Francisco. (Eric Risberg/ The Associated Press)

By David Siders and Alexei Koseff dsiders@sacbee.com 01/21/2015 11:46 PM

University of California President Janet Napolitano could hardly have been more dismissive when Gov. Jerry Brown proposed in November that, instead of threatening to raise tuition, UC create a commission to find ways to reduce costs.

On the day justices Mariano-Florentino Cuellar and Leondra R. Kruger were sworn in this month, the California Supreme Court issued a 4-3 ruling leaving in place a death sentence for a man with a long criminal record.

As President Obama delivered his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, I saw all of 2015 flash before my eyes. It was a smart speech that wisely stuck to “middle-class” values and was shrewdly short on details. I saw another year of the president not compromising. For Republicans, it was Ground Hog Day — an endless loop of the president talking up bipartisanship without practicing it.

Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Tom Del Beccaro, former Chairman of the California Republican Party and author of The Divided Era, joins Lou to discuss the State of the Union and Los Angeles World Airports running Ontario International Airport.

REDLANDS>> Staff, students and supporters of the University of Redlands’ Bulldog Weekly newspaper gathered on the steps of the administration building Tuesday to make their voices heard over the decision last month to put the paper on hiatus.

RIVERSIDE >> Attorneys for Ontario will continue to press for the release of 399 documents that they say could determine the fate of the city’s legal battle for local control of LA/Ontario International Airport.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 20: U.S. President Barack Obama waves before giving his State of the Union speech before members of Congress in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol January 20, 2015 in Washington, DC. Obama was expected to lay out a broad agenda to address income inequality, making it easier for Americans to afford college education, and child care. (Photo by Mandel Ngan-Pool/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON >> Refusing to bend to the new Republican Congress, President Barack Obama unveiled Tuesday night an ambitious State of the Union agenda steeped in Democratic priorities, including tax increases on the wealthy, education and child care help for the middle class and a torrent of veto threats for the GOP’s own plans.

Tonight on The Lou Desmond & Company Show, Phil Naman, host of The Firing Line on AM590, will join Lou to discuss Obama’s State of the Union. The two will make comments on the economy, the Affordable Care Act and foreign policy.

Former Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, right, created a crew of former reporters to delve into thorny issues, and it generated some noteworthy reports, but Steinberg’s successor, Kevin de León, has disbanded it. (Paul Kitagaki Jr./pkitagaki@sacbee.com)

By Dan Walters dwalters@sacbee.com 01/19/2015 7:39 PM

Legislative leaders occasionally proclaim that they want to do more “oversight” – looking into how well state government agencies are serving the public interest.

Having jumped into the U.S. Senate race “feet first,” state Attorney General Kamala Harris will be hitting the phones to score as much money and as many endorsements possible — all in the hope of keeping rival Democrats from jumping in as well.

The fastest-growing sectors of manufacturing in California tend to be in the higher skilled advanced-technology realm. Above, an employee assembles a server at the Z Microsystems facility in San Diego. (Sam Hodgson, Bloomberg)

By Chris Kirkham January 19, 2015

The United States has seen a remarkable turnaround in manufacturing employment since the economy bottomed out five years ago — but California hasn’t.

The apparent suicide last week of Alfred Villalobos, who faced a bribery trial next month, is a sad end for a former CalPERS board member paid more than $50 million by firms seeking money from the big pension fund.